1928: The rise of giant merchants

April 7, the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928).

Xianshi Department Store, Sales Department.

Xianshi Department Store was the first large-scale global department store opened by the Australian overseas Chinese Ma Yingbiao, who rented 20 acres of land at the Zhejiang intersection of Nanjing Road. He raised 2 million yuan in shares three times and built a 7-story building.

Eleven years have passed since it was founded in the sixth year of the Republic of China. The business is booming, so the employees' treatment is no worse than that of employees of foreign banks. In addition to holiday benefits, they can also have a one-hour lunch break at noon every day.

It was lunch break at this time, and several staff members were sitting together, chattering without knowing what they were talking about.

"Wow, the cover girl of this issue of Liangyou Pictorial has such a bold design!"

"Yes, yes, the ladies in brothels don't dare to wear so little!"

"What? Let me see!"

"Hey, why is the headline called 'Two cents buys a car'? What is this car coupon for?"

As usual, Li Fu took out the "Liangyou Pictorial" he bought in the morning, and was immediately attracted by the sexy and hot Huang Liushuang on the cover.

There were sounds of swallowing from colleagues around him. A few minutes passed, but he did not continue to turn back, and there was no urging from them.

Turning to the first page, the headline is "Two cents buys a car". It is not the previous cigarette advertisement, and it also comes with a car coupon.

Li Fu read out sentence by sentence: "On April 30, the 17th year of the Republic of China, 500 Chevrolet 490s purchased by Ye's Investment Company will arrive in Shanghai at Shiliupu Pier. This is a very cost-effective civilian car with superior performance. The price is affordable, and in order to repay the love of the general public, Mr. Tan will personally draw the winning numbers on that day, and the winner can use the car coupon number in his hand to redeem a Chevrolet 490 for free!"

"The styling of this Chevrolet 490 is okay, but there is nothing ordinary about a car. How much does it cost?" Someone stuck his head in and asked.

Li Fu pointed at the pictorial and read: "Chevrolet 490, initially priced at US$490, is indeed much cheaper than ordinary cars."

He did a mental calculation for a while and found that it would cost 1,200 oceans, which was equal to half a year's salary.

But such a cheap car is nowhere to be found in Shanghai!

He still takes the tram to work every day. If he can buy a Chevrolet 490, it will be long-lasting and convenient whether commuting to get off work or daily travel!

This is also what is said in car advertisements in pictorials——

Every man and woman should have a car that matches their status.

"Does it say that even if you don't win the prize, you can redeem your car coupons for installment payments at Ye's Automobile Shop?"

Li Fu took a curious look and found out that the so-called installment payment means that you can pay a deposit first, pick up the car from the car dealership, and then pay off the remaining fees and interest in the next year, but the minimum deposit ratio is 50%.

"I think I've seen this Chevrolet 490 somewhere before." Someone suddenly shouted, "Oh, I remembered it. I went to Grand Times Department Store before and saw a huge glass display window in their store. There’s a Chevrolet 490 model car inside! It’s exactly the same as the one in the pictorial.”

When he shouted, Li Fu also remembered.

Da Era Department Store is a rival company of Xianshi Department Store. In order to better formulate strategies for Da Era, Li Fu and his colleagues from the sales department would always disguise themselves as customers and go to Da Era to observe, or inquire about the situation with shops and customers.

Chevrolet 490, this word appears a bit frequently from customers' mouths recently.

"What are you all doing here?" A voice came from behind.

Li Fu trembled and quickly closed the Liangyou Pictorial. It was Ou Bin, the general manager of the company, who came.

"Good afternoon, general manager!"

Everyone said hello one after another.

Ou Bin nodded in return and walked straight to Li Fu. His eyes were immediately attracted by the cover of Liangyou Pictorial.

Having seen many sexy beauties, this was the first time he saw such a bold and avant-garde cover girl!

"The latest issue of Good Friends?" Ou Bin coughed, picked up the illustrated magazine, and looked at the cover for a long time before pretending to flip through it. Then he was shocked by the car advertisement on the first page.

"Ah, this Chevrolet 490, it turns out to be it." Ou Bin has been hearing his wife talk about wanting a car recently. She had never had such an idea before. When asked, she said that she needed a car that matched her status. This car was also mentioned.

It turns out that the root lies here.

His wife Tan Huiran is a director of Shanghai Commercial Bank. She usually likes to play mahjong, dance and live a so-called petty bourgeoisie life. Recently, she has been pestering him to buy a car.

But cars are too expensive. Ou Bin only drives an ordinary Ford, and he is not happy to buy another one for his wife.

But this Chevrolet 490 is a bit cheap.

The style is indeed not as good as those of Ford's new cars, but as the illustrated advertisement said, it is extremely cost-effective.

Moreover, if you buy a copy of Liangyou Pictorial, you will get a car coupon for free. Each ticket has a different number. If you win the lottery, wouldn't you be able to save some money?

Anyway, this issue of Liangyou Pictorial is quite interesting.

"Xiao Li, go to the bookstore after get off work and buy me ten, oh no, fifty copies of Good Friends Pictorial. I want to give it away." Ou Bin took out ten yuan and gave it to Li Fu.

"Okay, general manager." Li Fu nodded with a smile.

"Okay, let's all go to bed early. We still have to work in the afternoon." Ou Bin nodded.

Everyone dispersed in a hurry.

When Li Fu saw Ou Bin's look, he knew that he also had an interest in the Chevrolet 490. He would most likely buy it for his wife.

The general manager owns a Ford. That car is not affordable for ordinary people, but the Chevrolet 490 is different. He can buy it even if he grits his teeth.

Li Fu suddenly felt excited at the thought of being able to drive the same car as the general manager's wife to work in the future.

Moreover, when I go to gatherings in the county town in the future, my whole family will also be able to look good!

In the past, my father-in-law always said that although he worked in Xianshi Department Store, he was no different from his brother-in-law who worked in a car dealership. If he had this car.

Thinking like this, Li Fu made up his mind to buy a Chevrolet 490 as soon as possible, and since he still had car coupons, he might as well buy a few more copies of Liangyou Pictorial to try.

After finally getting off work, Li Fuzheng was about to go to the bookstore. A colleague turned on the only radio in the office. After the buzzing sound of electricity, the beautiful sound of the radio came.

"This morning, President Chang swore the Northern Expedition in Xuzhou, and various wars were launched at the same time. The First Group Army is progressing smoothly on the Lunan and Jinpu lines."

In the office area on the second floor of No. 32 Xiafei Road, Zhou Xiangsheng and Wu Liande were stunned at the same time by the war report coming from the radio.

They all looked at Ye Luo who was busy writing something, but found that the second young master was content and completely unresponsive.

"Second Young Master! The Second Northern Expedition has begun! And the war is going extremely smoothly!" Zhou Xiangsheng couldn't help but remind him.

This means things are about to change!

The first Northern Expedition came to an end last year, and both the north and the south ceased their activities, without a victory or defeat.

The leader of Jinling, Principal Chang, was still involved in internal disputes and did not make a comeback until January this year.

Everyone felt that the war situation would probably never get better in their lifetime.

Jinling and Beiyang are hostile to each other, but there is nothing they can do about each other. In the end, they may divide the river to rule, with Marshal Zhang in charge of the north and Principal Chang in charge of the south.

However, things went beyond everyone's expectations.

Today, after the Xuzhou swearing-in meeting, the battle for unification officially begins!

Everyone knows that if there is no fight or if there is a fight, the last days of the Beiyang warlords are coming to an end.

When the war ends, Shanghai will also change.

"I understand, Liande, how are the sales of Liangyou Pictorial?" Ye Luo didn't even raise his head.

How could Wu Liande care about this now? He got up and shouted to Ye Luo: "Second Young Master, Jinling is going to fight!"

"I know, I know, didn't I tell you this would happen before? What's the fuss?" Ye Luo still lowered his head, "The sales of the pictorial are pretty good, right?"

"Well, it's indeed very good." Wu Liande saw that he was unmoved and could only sit down. However, when talking about the sales of the pictorial, he was still very happy, "The first printing of 3,000 copies was sold out in less than half a day. Yes, the 3,000 additional copies printed yesterday should be sold out soon today. I went to several bookstores before coming here, and most of the Liangyou Pictorials in them are sold out."

"Yes, all the drivers in my car dealership have a lot of them. The allure of car coupons is really great." Zhou Xiangsheng sighed with emotion.

"There are also Miss Huang's photos, which are also very tempting. I came here by rickshaw, and I heard that someone specially tore off the covers of the illustrated magazines and sold them for a penny each. The sales were very good! Those rickshaw drivers, cooks and so on, I love them so much Collect this kind."

Wu Liande even admired Ye Luo for grasping the psychology of men.

The advertising effectiveness is as he said, and the effect is extremely significant.

Drivers in car dealerships, editors of illustrated newspapers, and many middle-class citizens are talking about the Chevrolet 490.

In an era when cars started costing 2,000 yuan, a civilian car priced at 490 US dollars was indeed very attractive.

This is like the skyrocketing housing prices in later generations.

When the house price is 10,000 yuan, many people are deterred, but when it is halved to 5,000 yuan, the desire to buy a house will be unprecedentedly high.

Plus appropriate, ubiquitous advertising.

It's always easy to start a spending spree.

"Manager Zhou, tomorrow you have to accompany me to the Automobile Dealers Association, and then return to the car dealership to do some errands." Ye Luo put down the pen in his hand. Since the second Northern Expedition swearing-in meeting has arrived as scheduled, the subsequent historical process will also be It will be done step by step.

Why is he so confident in going into the automotive industry?

First, after a few months, the US exchange rate rose, and the value of 2,000 Chevrolets doubled, so there was no way to lose money.

Second, the Northern Expedition came to an end quickly. There was a horrific tragedy in May. At that time, many people from the north would come to Shanghai to seek refuge. Many of them were wealthy businessmen and middle-class people. They were all the main customers of automobiles.

Third, once the assassination incident comes out in June, the overall situation has been decided, and the situation in Shanghai will really change. At that time, an unprecedented purge of the old business world will also begin.

And he happens to be a new generation of businessmen who has nothing to do with it.

Everyone underestimated Principal Chang's ambition.

No one from the old school in Shanghai can escape!